Rediscovering Reading

I loved to read as a kid and I tore through a lot of books. Then life got busier, college happened, and reading for pleasure decreased quite a bit. In the past couple years I became more serious about making time to read, though.

I think one of my big mistakes was that I never maintained a to-read list, other than in my head. I learned about goodreads.com last fall, signed up for it, and quickly realized what I had been missing out on by not keeping a to-read list. I started adding books as I thought of them (instead of forgetting) and found interesting books from friends' lists, too. Currently I am up to 116 books on my to-read list.

The site let users set a reading challenge for themselves this year. I aimed high and went for thirty books. I am in book thirteen now, so I know I will not make that goal, but I am still quite proud of myself. I only read four books last year, after all.

I'm a data geek (shocker), so I enjoy that the site lets me update and visualize my reading progress, too.

I recommend keeping a to-read list if you do not already, whether it's on goodreads, a text file, or a Post-it note. Post-it notes are easier to lose, though.